St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-01-06
ADDITIONAL MINNEAPOLIS NEWS
REEKING MIAH FILTH.
The Court House in al Horrible State
..EeStifslOi:y of 0sfic;a.s

--TestirlOEy of Officials.
The new board of Hennepin county COM
missoners, at the first meeting Monday
morning last, appointed a committee to
examine into the sanitary condition OF the
court house and Jail. The committee made
a eurs0ry examination of the jail. and
stated that it had been found in filthy
condition and that report would be made
| in regard to 1t at the next meeting.
! During the time until the board
meets the committee will examine the
court house and all persons employed in the
institution are looking for a sweeping re-
port in regard to it, 1t is really to be won
dered at that numerous cases of typhoid
fever have not had their origin there, and
the opinion is expressed that should matters
! run along until next summer as they are
| now there Will be considerable sickness
there. Below the Office of the register of
| deeds are located numerous closets. all or
nearly all of which are in a terrible cOnd-
| ton. Entering the room person is greeted
by stencil of rotting wood and worse
things that is almost unbearable The
floors of the closets are saturated. and
the odOr arising from them reminds one
forcibly of charnel house. Some of the
traps will not work at all, and the accumu-
lated filth nearly fills the basins. The traps
that will work are seldom used, as the
doors of the closets where they are are
locked and the keys in some of the private
offices. The steam pipes running into the
registers office run through or over all
these closets, and during warm weather, or
when heavy head of steam is on, the air
i'll the office is suffocating. The two clos
cts upstairs one in each jury room, are
i'll somewhat better condition. but are not
in the shape they should be. Both
smell badly, and it is impossible
for person to remain long i'll either room
without suffering severe headache. Hard
ened tobacco juice lies several inches deep
Oh the floor in some parts. and the walls are
taStefully ornamented with huge doses of
the same filthy stuff. Every one entering
feels at liberty to spit on the floor, or at
least it looks that way, and the stencil that
arises from that source alone is far from
pleasant. The ianitorS of the court house
are not wholly to blame for this state of
things. for they have to contend against
great odds in their endeayors to
keep the place clean. The majority
of the persons who use these
closets are witnesses or persons directly IN
terested in cases Oh trial, and have never
had an opportunity of becoming familiar
with the use of water in that respect.
The ventilation of all the rooms in the court
house is also very poor and complaints are
daily made in regard to it. The following
Interviews will at once show the feeling
that exists in regard to the matter among
the officials there:
Clerk of Court Dayenport-The sanitary
condition OF the court house is very bad.
Take. for instance the big court room
there is no ventilation to speak of, and on
cold day, when there is case being tried
all the air is exhausted in halt an hour
The consequence is that at the end of the
term the judge, the clerk and the jury all
go home sick. Then the water closets in
the basement of the building are in ter
rible condition and for my part cannot
see why all the persons in the office of the
register of deeds are not sick the whole
time.
Deputy Clerk Tirrel-The condition is
bad. The plumbing. any one can see. is not
done according to any known sanitary rules.
and the whole building, from basement to
roof, is full of sewer gas. There was no
attempt made to ventilate the clerks office |
and as far as | can find out it is the same |
way in all the other Offices
Judge of Probate Won Schlegel-It strikes |
me that the county of Hennepin can af-
ford a place where its officials can work |
without impairing their health. MY office |
is directly over the engine room and when a |
ire is going there can not remain here. |
The quantities of coal and sewer gas that |
come pouring into this Office is beyond COM
prehenSCsI and unless something is done |
there will not be well person around here |
in short time. Judge LELAND when he |
went out of Office. also told me that the |
sanitary condition of the place was ter
rble.
Deputy Clerk of Probate Scott-It's sim
ply awful, and something should be done
at once. The Office here is filled with |
smoke, coal and sewer gas all the time; and |
it is very often that we cannot work here |
at all.
Deputy Register Plummer Il cannot |
really express what should like to say.
The sanitary condition is simply terrible,
and we get the full benefit Of the water
closets down stairs. Why, last summer we
had to- keep chloride Of lime on the tables !
all the time. The floors in all the water
closets are damp and in many cases de- |
cayed, and are in fact in dangerous con-
ditiOn.e
County Auditor Condit-The sanitary
condition is very bad. and the whole thing !
needs thorough overhauling. The water |
closets are especially in a bad condition and |
should be fixed.
Deputy Sheriff James Ege-The condi- |
ton Of neither the Jail nor the court house
is what it should be, and the matter should
be attended to at once.